VALEANT TO CONGRESS: It is actually a good thing we jack up drug prices

Reuters
The interim CEO of Valeant, Howard Schiller, will testify before Congress on Thursday, and his written statement is already out in the internet ether.

It's long, but there are three main points.

We hired consultants, and they're the ones who told us to increase prices.

Price increases don't impact patients as much as hospitals because we have patient assistance programs.

The FDA should speed up its approval process for generics to lower costs.

Schiller is also going to argue that the fact that his company jacks up drug prices is a good thing, overall.

"When these drugs are priced to reflect more closely their true clinical value, the more accurate price signals incentivize generic competition and innovation. Higher prices draw generic competitors into the market, which inturn tends to put significant downward pressure on prices," says his statement.

Valeant has been under fire from legislators since this fall. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has tweeted and talked about going after the company for its practice of buying drugs, jacking up their prices, and spending very little money on the research and developments of new drugs.